THE community has been urged to stay vigilant for charity scams, after reports of people falsely claiming to collect donations on behalf of the NSW State Emergency Service (SES).
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Minister responsible for Fair Trading, Victor Dominello, said scam callers and door-to-door spruikers pretending to be collecting money for the SES through a raffle should be reported to Fair Trading or ScamWatch.
"The SES has made it clear that it does not operate raffles and would never raise funds in this way. These calls are bogus and consumers should not respond," Mr Dominello said.
Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission is the national charity regulator.
Commissioner Susan Pascoe said disasters could bring out the very best and the very worst in people.
"It is shocking that there are scammers out there prepared to take advantage of the public's generous nature," Ms Pascoe said.
The best way to help, she said, is to contact the NSW State Emergency Service Volunteers Associations charity directly.
The public could be assured other charities assisting those affected by the storm in NSW were legitimate by searching the Charity Register at acnc.gov.au/findacharity.
